Domaine Masson Blondelet

The brother and sister team of Mélanie and Pierre Masson run this staunchly organic estate which they’ve taken over from their parents who founded it in the 1970’s. Pierre is the beautiful man gracing our landing page this month. You’ll see the winery on your right immediately upon rolling into Pouilly-sur-Loire, and their sixty lovingly tended micro-plots are patched through the appellation. To say this is a family passionate about organic viticulture is an understatement, you can smell that energy the minute you walk in, and this isn’t only because of the never-ending organic vegetable slideshow playing above the fireplace. Here is Mélanie taking us through things:
Domaine Masson-Blondelet 17 Pouilly-sur-Loire Chasselas, fresh, typical
Domaine Masson-Blondelet 18 Pouilly-sur-Loire Chasselas, better, fresher
Domaine Masson-Blondelet 18 Sancerre Rosé, complex, fine, smokey, Melanie likes this after 18 months in bottle and we therefore took a stand on the 17 last summer, and get the 17 from us while you can
Domaine Masson-Blondelet 18 Sancerre Blanc “Thauvenay,” fine, cool, mineral
Domaine Masson-Blondelet 18 Pouilly Fume “Les Angelots,” vibrant, mineral
Domaine Masson-Blondelet 18 Pouilly Fume “Villa Paulus,” bigger, tight, not as much finesse
Domaine Masson-Blondelet 18 Pouilly Fume “Pierres de Pierre,” salinity, floral
Domaine Masson-Blondelet 15 Pouilly Fume “Clos Paladi,” full, rich, fine
Domaine Masson-Blondelet 14 Pouilly Fume “Tradition,” mature, boring
Domaine Masson-Blondelet 15 Pouilly Fume “Tradition,” fresher, better, more balanced
Domaine Masson-Blondelet 15 Sancerre Rouge “Thauvenay,” skinny, dry, not much fruit left
The specialty here is clearly the whites, and with plenty of Sancerre Rouge already in the portfolio it is where we will keep our attention on all things Masson Blondelet. The Chasselas is coming to you thanks to the request of Mr. Jal Hastings who is making heads turn for us in the Bay Area – You’ll here more from Jal on the content side of things in coming months. Pierre showed Frank, John, and I something new, as in how to instantly spot a “roundup ready” vineyard as opposed to an organic one (hint: no plastic sheaths around young vines in the organic plots, as organic vines need no protection from the barrage of Monsanto branded glyphosate that most conventional Loire farmers are heartbreakingly reliant on nowadays). I’m standing there stiff like a total idiot at the start of this video but for the sake of unfined/unfiltered video content here you go!

Overall this was a memorable/productive visit and tasting. We have a gem here. The lesser wines are the best value-for-money as is usually the case in our travels. If you are a restaurant or retailer reading this, you ought to put on an event where you taste guests on each of the three soil types in Pouilly Fume using each of this Domaine’s three releases – We have a transcript from what was an interesting but “too poor of sound quality” podcast episode for you to use, which you can access here. Want a custom cover for your event? Call our California office and ask for Logan.

This is what a healthy, organically farmed vineyard in Pouilly Fume should look like in Winter 2019

Domaine Bigonneau

Isolated in a literal sea of quinoa fields, Domaine Bigonneau cranks out shockingly world-class Reuilly and Quincy. This 15 hectare estate has been in operation for maybe 25 years now, and the young Virginie Bigonneau runs all aspects of the operation. She is well-traveled yet very much at home and settled in here, and  while the setup in general looks like a typical French farm this is a winery so clean inside that you could eat off the floors. The wines are similarly clean and transparent. We like to give you the “walk up” or “drive up” approach to each winery, so here it is at Bigonneau:
Domaine Bigonneau 18 Pinot Gris Rosé, typical aromatics and flavors, crisp, very good, we reserved all avail production (this is technically not a Rosé, btw even though it looks the part!)
Domaine Bigonneau 18 Reuilly Blanc, easy, fine, great value
Domaine Bigonneau 18 Quincy,  step up, more concentration and complex, very good
Domaine Bigonneau 16 Reuilly Rouge, lovely Pinot aroma and fruit, we reserved everything avail
Domaine Bigonneau 17 Reuilly Rouge, fuller, fatter, perhaps less focused, we reserved everything avail

Cash flow permitting we will probably just buy a full container to save on logistic costs (remember this is the middle of nowhere). Our only complaint in the past was the packaging and WOW have they stepped that game up! Well done Virginie!

Ms. Virginie Bigonneau! BTW Virginie we are jealous of your sweet vintage Land Rover…

Monmousseau

John and I like quiet, gritty Loire towns. They have character and take a person back in time. Monmousseau is based in one such town, Montrichard, and while we won’t recommend our hotel to you (Frank especially won’t), visiting Monmousseau’s historic caves is an essential look at the Loire sparkling wine industry’s past. The Dutchman in Frank will call the setup inefficient, but John and I will call it deliciously old-school, with tens of miles of tunnels used to age the sparkling wines produced here. Wines are aged on wooden laths (oh how sad we are that most portions of these caves were too dark for our Insta 360 One camera) and Monmousseau is just now transitioning from rail car transport (yes like a coal mine) to electric fork lifts! One visit here and you’ll be drinking Monmousseau Cremant d’Touraine at least monthly in your rotation. Their entry level Brut Etoile was my go-to sparkling wine in the college days, and while simple it still tastes pretty great.
Monmousseau 18 Rosé d’Anjou, bright, deep, ready early Feb
Monmousseau NV Cremant de Touraine “Cuvee JM” Brut, the category defining Touraine Cremant, nice balance, magnums available which is fun
Monmousseau NV Cremant de Touraine “Cuvee JM” Brut Rosé, rounder, more strawberry, pretty
Monmousseau NV Cremant de Loire “Brut Zero,” well made, bone dry, interesting but probably not something that would have pull so a no for us.
Monmousseau NV Cremant de Loire Brut, mostly sourced from Touraine which gives this a bit more personality than most in the category, full, good
Monmousseau NV Cremant de Loire Rosé, pale color, slight yeastiness, one more g/L of dosage than the regular Brut.

Lath storage at Monmousseau – Yep this is what we mean when we say old school